Six Groups Of People About Whom Allah Will Decide

Shaikh ul-Hadith al-Allamah Muhammad Isma’il as-Salafi (1378H)

Compiled and Translated

Abu Hibban and Abu Khuzaimah Ansaari

“Verily, those who believe (in Allaah and in His Messenger Muhammad sal-Allaahu ‘alayhe wa sallam), and those who are Jews, and the Sabians, and the Christians, and the Magians, and those who worship others besides Allaah, truly, Allaah will judge between them on the Day of Resurrection. Verily! Allaah is Witness over all things.”

“See you not that to Allaah prostrates whoever is in the heavens and whoever is on the earth, and the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and the mountains, and the trees, and Ad-Dawab (moving living creatures, beasts, etc.), and many of mankind? But there are many (men) on whom the punishment is justified. And whomsoever Allaah disgraces, none can honour him. Verily! Allaah does what He wills.” [Soorah al-Hajj (22):17-18]

Allaah says He will decide on the Day of Judgement and that the reality of the differences will become clear and manifest and in this regard he has mentioned six (6) groups of people in the verses [above].

Aamanu (Believers)

First and foremost are the believers, i.e. those people who believed in Allaah in all era’s and they accepted and believed in the Messengers and the Books that He (Allaah) sent. Not only did they submit and accept what was revealed to them but they also acted upon all the guidance Allaah revealed to them and what the Messengers of Allaah (‘alayhimus-salaam) acted upon and showed them.

Walladheena Haadoo (And those who are Jews)

And those who became Jews and not that they were Jews, as they were from the one Muslim nation in the beginning. Now this nation is totally rebellious and bewildered, however in the beginning they were upon the correct path, they believed in Moosaa (‘alayhis-salaam) and his Prophethood. When Moosaa (‘alayhis-salaam) presented the call (of Tawheed) to Fir’aun (Pharoah), what was his condition? Fir’aun had all possible worldly needs in the form of government, wealth and extensive power. The condition of Moosaa (‘alayhis-salaam) was the same as the initial condition of the Messenger of Allaah (sal-Allaahu ‘alayhe wa sallam) in Islaam. He did not have wealth nor a power nor the support of the majority of the people. But did these things save fir’aun from destruction? This rather was not the case and in the final battle Allaah destroyed him, and then made a crippled nation who had no power, the masters of the east and west. The Muslims are to also follow.

Was-sabieena (The Sabians)

Saab’ee: who were they? In this regard there are differing statements. Some have said this referred to a sect or a group of people who claimed to follow Ibraaheem (‘alayhis-salaam). Some have said they were star worshippers and some have said they were atheists having no religion and had secluded themselves from all the religions. They would take the beliefs appealing to them from the different religions and formulate their own religion based upon these beliefs and in this way they ensured their religion was based on something from each religion of the world. They resided in the lands at the borders of Arabia and Iran. One group of people has said that they were an ancestral sect and they were rebellious of every possible limit. They had declared all distinctions and restriction between lawful, unlawful permissible, impermissible to be incorrect.

Wan-Nasaraa (Christians)

Nasaraa, i.e. the Christians. This group who claimed to believe in Eesaa (‘alayhis-salaam) at his time were correct but due to their incorrect love of Eesaa (‘alayhis-salaam) they destroyed the religion and corrupted the belief of Tawheed. The incorrect love of these people for Eesaa (‘alayhis-salaam) misguided them from the straight path. They declared Eesaa (‘alayhis-salaam) to be the son of Allaah and fabricated the belief of trinity. This was all the doing of their religious leaders who did not seek and teach the religion for the sake of religion but rather they made it a means of acquiring wealth and so began a trade just as is happening now. Allaah said concerning this,

“O you who believe! Verily, there are many of the (Jewish) rabbis and the (Christian) monks who devour the wealth of mankind in falsehood…” [Soorah at-Tawbah (9):34]

Wal-Majoosa (Fire Worshippers – the Magians)

Fire worshippers. These people inhabited the whole of Iran and considered themselves to be the followers of Zoroastra. These people formed analogies of man with Allaah. Their argument was that it is not possible to have conflicting acts from one entity. They would say,

“It is not possible for one man to be happy and upset at the same time, we see in the world some people are happy and some are sad. Then with certainty their are two Gods one for happiness and one for sadness, one for light and one for darkness.”

Walladheena Ashraku (And those who worship others besides Allaah)

This is the creation who whilst believing in Allaah are the most mistrustful of Him. They do not consider Allaah to have to all authority. If they had certainty that only Allaah has all power over all things and He could do whatever He wished, whenever He wished, then associating partners with Him would be impossible.

These people become dissatisfied with Allaah and hence turn to other shrines. The Prophets, those wishing well for the nation and the righteous tried endlessly to remove the mistrust of Allaah from these people however it was not possible.

They believe in Allaah and yet at the same time they have escape routes for themselves, i.e. they go to other deities and ask them to influence Allaah and ask for their needs and wishes to be fulfilled. The belief of the Muslims is clear;do not associate any partners with Him (Allaah).

Allaah Himself will decide and judge the differences of these groups on the day of Judgement. It is a point of attention that the Messenger of Allaah (sal-Allaahu ‘alayhe wa sallam) spent all his life to abolish personal opinions and thoughts but it did not finish. The manner of speaking and orating the Messenger of Allaah (sal-Allaahu ‘alayhe wa sallam) was given by Allaah, all the sincerity he possessed and his exemplary manners he was still unable to remove the sectarianism and it remained in action amongst them. Hence his saying,

“…Allaah will judge between them on the Day of Resurrection…” [Soorah al-Hajj (22):17]

This decision will be the final and last one and each group’s mistakes and errors will be apparent and made open and they will be recompensed for them.

A man murders someone and the inheritors of the murdered person accuse the murderer. So the case is presented in the court and the witnesses give their testimonies. The lawyers argue their cases but the final decision is with the judge and the criminal is sent to jail.

Similarly Allaah will decide on the Day of Judgement and on that day there will be all kinds of witnesses but Allaah says He will be a witness Himself,

“See you not that to Allaah prostrates whoever is in the heavens and whoever is on the earth, and the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and the mountains, and the trees, and Ad-Dawab (moving living creatures, beasts, etc.), and many of mankind? But there are many (men) on whom the punishment is justified. And whomsoever Allaah disgraces, none can honour him. Verily! Allaah does what He wills.” [Soorah al-Hajj (22):18]

Everything is according to the command of Allaah and the earth and the heavens are prostrating to Allaah in every sense. All the creation is incumbent upon His laws and they live by them and even if they chose to reject this then in the sense of trying to flee from the command of Allaah is not possible as everything obeys Allaah and prostrates to Him.

There are many people from amongst mankind who prostrate to Allaah when they are happy but there are also those who are rebellious and worthy of punishment. Yet they submit to His laws as it is impossible to flee from His commands. The law which Allaah has created, even the invalids have to obey it – whether this obeying does not benefit him or even if he is disgraced.

Taken from “Friday Sermon: 16 August 1963; Khutbat as-Salafiyyah (pgs.129-133)”